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Government 2.0

There is no question that technology has changed how Government is done. With the integration of social networking, blogs, RSS feeds, and wikis, Government is better able to serve individuals, businesses and employees alike.

Here is a forum to share your experience with technology use in Government.

One of my pet peeves in my efforts at gaining federal employment is that it seems like at least half, if not more of the positions for which I'm a good fit are located in D.C. or that general area.

Personally, this frustrates me because I live in the West and making that move to live in an area with a much higher cost of living, more congestion, hassle, etc. just isn't going to happen.

I wonder with all the technologies available today why the headquarters for federal agencies aren't moving away from the D.C. area? Technologies we already have could keep agencies in the loop. The government could save some money in payroll, rent, and probably increase employee satisfaction with less D.C.-area hassle and a much lower cost of living.

I'm not talking about moving everything to the Middle of Nowhere. But putting headquarters for Agency X in Chicago, Denver, Portland (OR or Maine), Las Vegas, or Dallas. Is it really that important that all the high level planning go on in the D.C. area?

I think it wont happen. Ever. The positions of power are in DC, so that is where the agency HQs will be. Most agencies though, have numerous offices throughout the country. Yes it makes it harder to get in as there are fewer availabilities, but that is just how it is.ex-military2013-04-22 09:29:45

However, with all the current griping in the media about "overpaid" federal workers, you'd think someone would consider the idea. According to the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2013/04/09/despite-salary-rate-freeze-average-federal-salary-rises/), "The Office of Personnel Management reported that as of September 2012, the average salary for a full-time, permanent, non-seasonal position was $78,467."

How much of that is skewed high just because a huge number of government workers are getting D.C. wages?

A GS-12 in D.C. isn't working any harder than a GS-12 in Arizona.

If the lion's share of the work of an agency's headquarters can be done just as easily in Chicago or Phoenix, why not move the worker bees there?

Of course, there would still have to be an office of some kind in D.C. It would just have a much smaller staff.

And the pay much lower in the field - that is why many folks where I have worked start locally - go to DC to make their grades - then come back at their higher grade - and have their foot in the door already. So like they always told me - GET YOUR FOOT IN THE DOOR - which I did - -I would of had to have gone to DC to go higher - but not worth seeing my friends get up early in the morning and come back home after dinner at night. No regrets and retired now

I worked in dc on my first job and cried every night driving home the traffic was so scary. Finally transferred to Iraq where I was much happier. Now in NC and happy, but had to go thru alot to get here. Took 4 years to get a location I wanted. You just have to sacrifice for a couple of years. For me, it was a big sacrifice. But, I know people who like DC. So to each their own.

DC is exactly the route I will more than likely take to move back South. I took a job in the North East to get in the door and will look for a 13 spot in DC if that is what it takes to move back South. Now, DC will not be my final stop, but it will be a stepping stone to get where I really want to be.

Granted the traffic there does suck but for my family's happiness of being South I will sacrifice some. Plus DC is a fun place to explore.

...and yet it is hard to get hired. but they are right about the turnover rate. if your boss doesnt like you, or you dont play the politics game your out before your probation ends. and they nick-pick about the reasons to fire you whilest the other employees are doing the same thing sometimes even worse or more frequent

It makes sense for federal agency headquarters to be in the D.C. area. A lot of people in the top positions are political appointees and many times have to answer to Congress IN PERSON and RIGHT NOW about whatever the crisis du jour is. And for every top bureaucrat, there are a bunch of support people at headquarters who help their bosses face the fire. Like someone said, 85% of federal workers are NOT in the D.C. area and that's because those people don't need to all be in D.C. to execute the policies being cooked up in D.C. There are many examples of field offices that need to be near the American public they are providing direct services to and that's exactly where they are and why.

If you're living on the West Coast than it doesn't sound like it's in CA. The San Francisco Bay Area in particular is the most expensive place to live now and the locality pay has not been increased despite rents increasing 60-100% in 3 years.

Sorry, I just stumbled across this thread and had to jump on an old comment:

Originally Posted by: $600ToiletSeat

A GS-12 in D.C. isn't working any harder than a GS-12 in Arizona.

Except the GS-12 in Arizona would probably be a GS-14 in the DC area, since a 12 in Arizona is almost certainly a supervisor whereas many supervisory positions in DC are at least 14... or at least the 12 in Arizona is much closer to the top of their office, whereas a 12 in DC is a faceless cog in the machine.

Sorry, I just stumbled across this thread and had to jump on an old comment:

Originally Posted by: $600ToiletSeat

A GS-12 in D.C. isn't working any harder than a GS-12 in Arizona.

Except the GS-12 in Arizona would probably be a GS-14 in the DC area, since a 12 in Arizona is almost certainly a supervisor whereas many supervisory positions in DC are at least 14... or at least the 12 in Arizona is much closer to the top of their office, whereas a 12 in DC is a faceless cog in the machine.

In my agency there are some GS-14s that are leads and not supervisors, although my supervisor is a 14(branch chief). At my old agency branch chiefs were GS-12s.

I'm on a GS-11/GS-13 ladder in D.C. After being a fed in the mid-west and the south and watching my career go nowhere, I decided to move to the D.C. area to increase my grade.

But as you pointed out, the issue is there are not many non-supervisory GS13-15 positions outside of the DMV. I'm in the financial field, and there are a few non-supervisory GS13-15 financial positions at DFAS that I have seen on usajobs, but not many. I really have no desire to be a federal supervisor. Not that I couldn't handle the actual work, it's the administrative part of it that I don't want nothing to do with (writing evaluations, counseling employees, etc).

I do want move back to either the mid-west or the south where the cost of living is lower, but it's going to be difficult to find the position I want (non-supervisory GS13 or 14) outside of the D.C. area.

Sorry, I just stumbled across this thread and had to jump on an old comment:

Originally Posted by: $600ToiletSeat

A GS-12 in D.C. isn't working any harder than a GS-12 in Arizona.

Except the GS-12 in Arizona would probably be a GS-14 in the DC area, since a 12 in Arizona is almost certainly a supervisor whereas many supervisory positions in DC are at least 14... or at least the 12 in Arizona is much closer to the top of their office, whereas a 12 in DC is a faceless cog in the machine.

In my agency there are some GS-14s that are leads and not supervisors, although my supervisor is a 14(branch chief). At my old agency branch chiefs were GS-12s.

I'm on a GS-11/GS-13 ladder in D.C. After being a fed in the mid-west and the south and watching my career go nowhere, I decided to move to the D.C. area to increase my grade.

But as you pointed out, the issue is there are not many non-supervisory GS13-15 positions outside of the DMV. I'm in the financial field, and there are a few non-supervisory GS13-15 financial positions at DFAS that I have seen on usajobs, but not many. I really have no desire to be a federal supervisor. Not that I couldn't handle the actual work, it's the administrative part of it that I don't want nothing to do with (writing evaluations, counseling employees, etc).

I do want move back to either the mid-west or the south where the cost of living is lower, but it's going to be difficult to find the position I want (non-supervisory GS13 or 14) outside of the D.C. area.

Why not just go for a Supervisory GS 13 or 14? The worse they can tell you is no. Your agency hasn't allowed you to take any supervisory courses at all? I seen a few people land Supervisory 12 or 13 positions without any experience as a supervisor.

At face value, this question is silly. It's like asking why most state jobs in California are located in Sacramento. Agencies will always have a large presence at the capital because that's where the legislators are.

Anyways I think the government is finally getting a grasp at budgeting and "emergent" technology. In the Los Angeles area some agencies are even slimming down their footprint to avoid rising costs of leasing office space. Telework will have its limitations however - just remember with the kind of information most of us handle (i.e., PII, sensitive, classified, etc.) there are many security issues.

Centralization is a big aspect of a bureaucracy, but there are regional hubs that may hold more vacancies than DC. As a Fed the rule of thumb is generally to go to DC, get your GS 14, and head back to your local area.

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